JOHN TAVENER: The Veil of the Temple. Choir of the Temple Church, Holst Singers, Patricia Rozaro (sop) c. Stephen Layton. RCA 82876661542.

TAVENER: Lament for Jerusalem. Patricia Rozario (sop), Christopher Joey (counter-ten), Sydney Philharmonic Chorus, Australian Youth Orchestra c. Thomas Woods. ABC Classics 476 160–5.

TAVENER: Birthday Sleep; Butterfly Dreams; The Second Coming; Schuon Hymen; As one who has slept; The Bridal Chamber; Exhortation and Kohima; Shunya. Polyphony c. Stephen Layton. Hyperion CDA67475.

1. Conway Hall: Ronald Stevenson's Bax Variations

2. Barbican: Poul Ruders' ‘Listening Earth’

3. Conway Hall again: Gerard Schurmann's String Quartet

JOAN GUINJOAN: Concerto for clarinet and orchestra; Concerto for piano and orchestra; Música per a violoncel i orquestra. Joan Enric Lluna (cl), David Abramovitz (pno), Lluís Claret (vlc). Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, c. Ernest Martínez Izquierdo. Harmonia Mundi HMI 987056.

Tony Kushner's play Angels in America is now secure in the canon of 20th-century US (and probably world) drama, but its subject-matter has not often been explored in the opera house. The play centres around questions about racial identity, connubial relationships and politics (that's all very operatic, of course); but also a type of intolerance and spiritualism that is peculiar to parts of the USA; and, most dramatically and provocatively, homosexual partnerships and AIDS. Aside from the historical examples provided by certain operas by Benjamin Britten (among others), the only operas on gay themes known to this writer are Matthias Pintscher's Thomas Chatterton (1994–97), Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk (premièred 1995), Paula M. Kimper's Patient and Sarah (premièred 1998) and Estele Pizer's Perverse (premièred 2002) – and none addresses AIDS. So Péter Eötvös's new opera, to a libretto by Mari Mezei, directed by Philippe Calvario and premiered under the composer's baton on 29 November, seems nothing if not an intervention.

BENJAMIN: Palimpsests; At First Light; Sudden Time; Olicantus. Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Modern Orchestra, c. George Benjamin, Oliver Knussen. Nimbus NI 5732.

By any measure Rafał Augustyn's Symphony of Hymns is a big piece. It clocks in at 100 minutes; requires forces of more than 170 performers, including two solo singers, electronics and solo flugelhorn; sets texts from 20 sources by 17 authors in five languages; and took its composer 20 years to write. But for all its scale, what is perhaps most impressive about the work is that across these dimensions Augustyn has written a score that is always inventive and enjoyable.

ANTHONY GILBERT: On Beholding a Rainbow1,4; Certain Lights Reflecting2,4; … Into the Gyre of a Madder Dance3; Unrise3. 1Anthony Marwood (vln), 2Susan Bickley (mezzo), 3RNCM Wind Ensemble c. Clark Rundell, 4RNCM Symphony Orchestra c. Garry Walker. NMCD105.

PETRASSI: Concertos for Orchestra Nos. 1–8. Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra c. Arturo Tamayo. Stradivarius STR 33700 (2-CD set).

Blood Wedding is the first opera by the Hungarian composer Sándor Szókolay, (b.1931), who being three years older than Birtwistle and Maxwell Davies is, with Emil Petróvics (whose Kafka-like one-acter C'est la Guerre coexists with Blood Wedding in the Hungarian State Opera's regular repertoire), arguably the leading modernist among Hungarian opera composers.

JOHN ADAMS: On the Transmigration of Souls. New York Choral Artists, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, New York Philharmonic c. Lorin Maazel. Nonesuch 7559 79816 2.

MAXWELL DAVIES: Naxos Quartets Nos. 3 and 4. Maggini Quartet. Naxos 8.557397.

The difficulties of attempting to translate a popular novel into an operatic medium were apparent in Nicholas Maw's recent opera based on Sophie's Choice. Nigel Osborne's new opera followed the same dangerous path in tackling Daniel Mason's highly successful historical novel, The Piano Tuner.

PASCAL DUSAPIN: Perelà, uomo di fumo. Orchestre National de Montpellier c. Alain Altinoglu. Naïve MO 782168 (2-CD set).

DUSAPIN: 7 Études pour piano; À quia (piano concerto). Ian Pace (pno), Orchestre de Paris c. Christoph Eschenbach. Naïve MO 782164.

DUSAPIN: Granum Sinapis; Umbrae Mortis; Dona eis. Choeur de Chamber Accentus, Ensemble Ars Nova c. Laurence Equilbey. Naïve MO 782116.

DUSAPIN: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 4. Danel String Quartet. Accord 476 1919.

DUSAPIN: String Quartets Nos. 2 ‘Time Zones’ and 3. DUTILLEUX: Ainsi la Nuit. Arditti String Quartet. Naïve MO 782125.

EGON WELLESZ: Vorfrühling; Leben, Traum und Tod; Lied der Welt; Sonette der Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Ode an die Musik; Vision; Symphonischer Epilog. Regina Klepper (sop), Sophie Koch (mezzo), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, c. Roger Epple. Capriccio 67077.

WELLESZ: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 8; Symphonischer Epilog. Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, c. Gottfried Rabl. CPO 999998-2.

WELLESZ: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 9. Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, c. Gottfried Rabl. CPO 999997-2.

WELLESZ: Prosperos Beschwörungen; HONEGGER: Symphony No. 5; STRAVINSKY: Le Sacre du printemps; JANÁČEK: Sinfonietta; WEBERN: Passacaglia; Six Movements op. 6; BERG: Der Wein; SCHOENBERG: Pelleas und Melisande; SCHMIDT: Symphony No. 2. Vienna Philharmonic c. Haitink, Ansermet, Markevitch, Kubelik, Mehta, Dorov, Bohm, Leinsdorf. Andante AND4080.